The Nats try to give Davey Johnson his first win tonight at Angel Stadium.

Lost amid all the hullabaloo over the Nationals managerial overhaul is this cold, hard fact: They still aren't hitting as a team. In their last three games, the Nats have produced a total of five runs and 11 hits. They've struck out 26 times while drawing only five walks. All five runs during those three games were scored via home run (three solo, one two-run shot).

The challenge for Davey Johnson, then, is to figure out whether any tweaks need to be made to his lineup. During his introductory news conference yesterday, he said he prefers to keep a stable lineup and avoiding the everyday mixing and matching that Jim Riggleman often did. True to form, Davey's second lineup as manager is identical to his first one.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Nationals pitching staff remains in top form, and they'll hope Jason Marquis continues the trend tonight. Marquis, of course, pitched a gem Thursday against the Mariners … only to get completely overshadowed by Riggleman's surprise resignation.

I've actually departed Anaheim and am en route home to D.C. as we speak. I wasn't originally scheduled to make that trip, but Davey's debut was too big a story to miss, so CSN was able to find a way to send me out west for the first game of the series. Enjoy tonight's game and the conversation among yourselves, and I'll be back at the ballpark for this weekend's series against the Pirates…

And everybody gets into it. Zimmerman pulls Morse up the line into right field, practically, for the Nats' 3rd error. Now McCatty goes out to discuss candlesticks and live chickens, while the Coffey gets microwaved.

Maybe just erase the recording.Balester WP's Kendrick to second, and on what would be an ill-advised pickoff attempt, throws the ball into center field. Walk to Callaspo, and that's enough for Davey, finally. A single, a bomb, error, wild pitch, another error, and a walk. Bad night for Colin Balester.

Coffey strikes out Trumbo and gets Conger on a can of corn to right. They've been playing for over two and a half hours, and we're still half an inning from TMOTTBG. THIS is why people hate the American League. This right here.

And Hairston, running for Nix, is WP'd to second, opening up first base. You think nobody has heard of Espinosa? They ain't pitching to him here. Intentional Walk. Bases loaded, one out, Ramos up.Not for long. 5-4-3, on the tag.Still 6-5, them, baja 7.

Coffey perks up the team, and calms down the Angels. 1-2-3 seventh. (Although Desmond did get eaten up by another ground ball to his left, he recovered nicely to get the out.)Stairs, Desmond, Bernadina due up–need at least one, boys.

and Trumbo makes it 9-5, Angels, with a double crushed into the gap.Under normal circumstances, I'd consider going to bed now …Conger deep into the right field seats. 11-5.FP is funny, tho. Describing Conger's swing as "Lift and Separate!" If you're old enough to get that, you are probably asleep now. Desmond gets another hot potato at short for the — what is that, their fifth? error. Mercy. We go to the ninth.

Approximately 275 minutes of baseball, and the less said about it the better.I wonder if the distractions are finally catching up with them, now that they can take a breath.Hairston walks, Morse singles … hey, play all 27.

At the game tonight in SoCal. Just a couple of notes. Angels fans are intense. 41000 for a tuesday night game against the nats. They really show up and support the team. The infield looks horrible condition. Many of those errors were bad hops, you can see they are trying to save water or something by not watering the grass or something. DJ visiting pitchers in the middle of counts has got to be unnerving. I do not know what he thinks he can accomplish by this but it seems more of a distraction.watching todd coffey run from the bullpen is great.also enjoyed seeing the racing presidents at them game.

Ugh. Not a good game results email; the box score wasn't looking good, either; so I came here to read Mark's (strike that), sec3's commentary. (Good job on the PBP, btw. I LOL'd a bunch.) Maybe I'll go downstairs and see whether the DVR self-destructed, maybe I won't. As someone noted, hope our boys can pull off a W tonight, then get back for the off day and some home cooking.Also, just figured out that there are Newer and Newest links on these long game threads. hmmm…I may have missed something in the 277-plus thread. You late-night chatters are gamers, I will say that! :-)Also got the lift and separate but am trying to figure out just what the swing looked like. Is it about the follow-through?

Sec3 thanks for the commentary,still dragging this AM and not the good wake up I was hoping for…I think the field is in worse shape than we think. Curse you Bono!We only have 1 game left here.. let's get the boys home

Will said:Can someone remind me why Desmond is in Washington and not Harrisburg? I'm not trying to be overly negative…just, if you think Desmond is the answer at SS, why?–/————–_Oh, because he just went, like close to a couple of months, without an error? Not trying…? Another natural gift for negativity, apparently…. I wasn't watching, but it was mentioned that this infield is in lousy shape.I value everybody's opinion…. but prefacing an opportunistically negative comment with "Hey, not trying to be negative…", is, basically, pissing on my head, and telling me it's raining. At least be honest, in your negativity.

Tim said… "Just like old times… sheeeesh, that was ugly…ugliest of the year.I didn't like Davey smiling so much either."Davey understands that the baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint. Many fans don't know that, don't understand that or forget it.

Roger that, N. Cog… Would any of us be happier, if Davey was cussing, benching folks, and pointing fingers?As I point out, Every Single Year, after losing my Fantasy Football opener:"MARATHON. NOT SPRINT."

Negativity alert.I hate Bono. He screwed up the field in Anaheim. Made the Marlins play a weekend series in Seattle, because there was to be a concert tonight. 3 days after the series would be over. Come on Man.I made it to the bottom of the 8th once Trumbo hit the double I was out of there.